helium
by 50 shades of Fray
Summary: Stiles and Lydia plan the Senior Prank together, so they might as well exchange a few kisses and a variety of balloon-related metaphors while they're at it.


So, usually in TV shows I enjoy watching the process of two characters falling in love more so than actually watching them act as a couple. Literally, in almost every single show, I will obsess over the couple's journey _to_ becoming a couple more so than their destination of _being_ a couple. After they've actually become boyfriend and girlfriend, I get bored. BUT FOR SOME REASON, IT IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WITH STYDIA. I'M DONE WITH ALL THIS FOREPLAY ALL I WANT IS FOR THEM TO GO OUT ON A REALLY CUTE DATE AND THEN FOR THEM TO BECOME BOYFRIEND AND GIRLFRIEND BECAUSE IM PRETTY SURE WE ALL KNOW THAT STILES AND LYDIA WOULD BE THE MOST ADORABLE BANTERING DETECTIVE COUPLE THAT TV HAS EVER SEEN I JUST NEED THIS SO BADLY so I wrote this BUT I SWEAR TO GOD IF NOTHING HAPPENS IN EPISODE ELEVEN OF SEASON FOUR I WILL STAB MY PARENTS' FLAT SCREEN TV WITH A FORK

* * *

"Thank you all, for coming," Lydia announced primly, sitting politely in the chair at the head of the Stilinski family's kitchen table. Her perfectly manicured hands were folded over each other as they rested neatly over the table in front of her. She served as the proper visual example of a serious businesswoman waiting patiently for her much-less-professional clients, also known as the odd group of people she called "friends", to settle down until they were all ears for her proposition.

"This better be good," Allison spoke up, "Scott and I were going to go bowling."

"Oh, please," Lydia scoffed, her sharp tongue and quick wit cooperating efficiently to fire back an equally-lighthearted retort, "you guys were probably going to end up making out in the backseat of Scott's car before you could even step foot into that Bowling Alley."

"Lydia's right," Stiles' agreed with the girl who's chair he was currently casually leaning against. His hand was rested on the back of her seat, very close to her shoulder.

"Of course you would agree with _her_," Scott muttered.

"Well, duh," Lydia replied, "I'm his _girlfriend_."

Stiles nodded, sending her two thumbs up and a flirty wink, before turning back to the only other couple in the room, "We're doing you two a favor. Take a break from sucking face and suck it up."

Lydia smirked, "I couldn't have said it any better myself."

Stiles reached down to playfully ruffle the vibrant strands at the top of her head.

"Ugh, get a room," Isaac complained, "you two are inflicting physical pain on all of us. We didn't come here to watch you and Lydia make googley-heart-eyes to each other and do sickening couple-y stuff."

"Yeah," Scott said, referring to the brunette sitting on his right, "that's our job." Being the incredibly subtle person he is, Scott proceeded to wildy gesture between himself and Allison, nearly hitting Kira, who had been sitting quietly on his left side, in the face. Having just encountered the frightening dangers of one of Scott's brief, short-lived moments of astounding incoordination that could have easily competed with Stiles' own natural clumsiness, the timid, raven-haired girl pursued to scoot her chair away from the Alpha, moving more towards Malia, who appeared to be busy doing something on her phone.

"We have all gathered here today for this meeting to thoroughly discuss a _crucially_ important event, which is coming up very soon, that consists of the ability to determine the fates in which we are to approach to in the very near future," Stiles said seriously.

Lydia raised an eyebrow as her gaze swiped the room to make eye contact with each and every one of her friends, "Can anyone guess what this special event is?"

It was dead silent for a moment, the inquiring question hanging unanswered in their atmosphere. They all wavered under the steady, humorless, completely stone-faced stares that they were receiving from the couple. This was the same couple, in fact, that was known to almost never be serious, of course, when not solving supernatural mysteries and running away from terrifyingly revolting demons. And even then, their humorous banter would nearly never fail to make it's special appearance.

So this, obviously, was odd.

Kira slowly raised her hand, her eyes fearful.

"Yes, Kira?" Lydia smiled at the girl, proud that despite her bashful demeanor, she resulted in being the only one brave enough to speak up during such an awkward moment.

Kira suggested her answer, "Graduation?"

Lydia's smile immediately dropped from her lips as Kira's incorrect answer triggered an endless stream of even more incorrect answers from the rest of the group. She felt Stiles reach a hand down to massage her shoulder in reassurance, as if to say, "Think happy thoughts, Lydia, think happy thoughts."

"Senior picnic?"

"Prom?"

"Moving out?"

"Meeting your roommate for the first time only to discover that they have Cheeto fingers 24/7?"

"Your first college party?"

"Marriage?"

"Losing your virgini-"

"OKAY," Stiles cleared his throat loudly, not wanting to discuss the topic of sex with his friends.

"Guys, we're talking about our _SENIOR PRANK!" _He revealed this to them with an amazing amount of enthusiasm and an over-usage of exagerrated hand-movements. Lydia was ecstatic too, her happy smile wide as she nodded her head up and down rapidly.

"Senior prank?" Scott repeats questioningly.

Stiles and Lydia both nod slowly, their beams only weakening slightly in confusion as to why they didn't receive the large reaction they were expecting.

"_That's_ what the two of you were obsessing over this whole time?" Malia asked, eyebrows raised, arms crossed over her chest.

"Well, yeah," Lydia smiled, determined to stay cheerful, "we're going to set it up this Thursday night, since Friday is the last day of high school. Stiles and I have been brainstorming for a pretty long time, and we decided that we all deserved to leave with a bang, literally-"

"I'm sorry, Lyds," Allison interrupted gently, "but Scott and I can't help. We're going to that special midnight opening of _Mockingjay Part 1 _at the movie theater_. _I read online that they _completely_ redesigned Katniss' bow and arrow to increase the strength and efficiency of the bow, as well as the agility and fatality of the arrows, which, mind you - were already deadly enough in the first two books and movies. Can you believe that? I have to see it!_ I have to._" Allison's eyes shone with a determination that was usually only reserved for hunting.

Scott leaned forward and pecked his girlfriend on the cheek, finding her geeky-obsession with bows and arrows endearing.

Lydia and Stiles' faces fell, their smiles completely dropping from their faces at the exact same time. Isaac, who was sitting directly across from them, would've laughed out loud at their facially comical-exactitude if it hadn't been for the fact that Scott and Allison had just crushed and stomped all over what seemed to be the the beacon of all their hopes and dreams.

"I can't go either," Kira admitted quietly, "my dad made me swear not to risk his position as a teacher and participate in any sort of trouble involving the school. I don't want to get my dad fired."

Stiles and Lydia frowned, but nodded understandingly towards the Kitsune.

Stiles spoke exasperatedly towards Isaac and Malia, who'd gone back to her phone, "I'm guessing you two aren't gonna help either?"

"Sorry, dude," Isaac apologized not-so-sincerely, "but I don't want to be there when it's 2:02 in the morning and you guys start goin' at it in the janitor's empty closet."

"I just don't want to go," Malia told them, her tone slightly harsh. Her expression seemed bored.

Lydia rolled her eyes, "Alright then," she stood up from her chair to stand next to Stiles. She had her arms crossed over her chest, the same way her boyfriend had his.

"You guys go ahead and do whatever you want on Thursday night," Stiles said, casually slinging an arm around Lydia's shoulders, "Lydia and I will be at school, planning the best senior prank that Beacon Hills has ever seen."

* * *

And this was how Beacon Hills High School's Smartest Couple (they were voted so in the yearbook) ended up alone at school at 3:37 AM, sitting on the polished linoleum floor of the school hallway that stretched in front of the locker room and Coach's office, with their backs pressed against the row of metal lockers behind them.

Three miraculously large empty buckets and an alarmingly huge tank filled with God-knows-what sat beside their casually intertwined legs.

"Crap." Lydia stared up at what Stiles' and she had done to the school's ceiling, "We used helium, didn't we?" Her voice was toneless and dry.

"Yep." Stiles let out another unecessarily lengthy sigh, "We just let down the entire Senior Class of 2015."

The multi-colored balloons that layered the hallway's ceiling covered the light panels and the water sprinklers that were supposed to save them if there was ever a fire. The couple's original goal was to blanket the hallway FLOORS with balloons so that no one would be able to get to class without popping them and shocking everyone in the hallway. Unfortunately, when buying the tank, Stiles had forgotten that helium actually caused balloons to float _upwards._

"Well," Lydia turned her head up to gaze at Stiles, "they'll be hard to clean up, at least. Looks like they're not gonna be coming back down for a long time."

Stiles raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side, "True."

"Aaand," Lydia said slowly, repeatedly running a gentle hand over his bicep, "they're really pretty." She glanced back up to the balloons. The fluorescent light panels shined through the vinyl and latex fabric of the balloons, causing a multi-colored light show to unfold before Stiles and Lydia, "They remind me of Winter Formal. When you oh-so-graciously asked me to get off my cute little ass to dance with you."

Stiles grinned at the memory and laced her slim fingers through his own, pulling her into a bear hug, "You're adorable," his other hand moved up to play with her strawberry-blonde locks, "would it be weird if I used a balloon metaphor to describe how much you mean to me?"

"_A balloon metaphor_?"

"It fits our current situation, don't you think?"

She spoke into his shoulder, her voice coming out blocked and muffled, "I hope you're not implying that I'm round, Stiles."

He chuckles deeply, "That's totally not what I meant," he took a deep breath, her strawberry blonde hair brushing his chin and tickling his nose, "I meant that you're bright, you're colorful, and you're special to me. I don't want to let go of you, and I don't want you to float away from me, because if that ever happened, I'd be devastated."

She tilted her head up from it's previous position on his chest, the curiosity and affection clearly evident in her emerald orbs, "What if _you're_ the one to let go first, only to realize that there wasn't much to hold on to in the first place?"

"Oh, trust me," he pulled away to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers brushing her earring, "you're a lot to hold on to."

"Stiles," Lydia holds a cheesy grin on her face, "is this early hour the cause of your previous cliche confession of love, or has the helium gotten to your brain?"

He rolled his eyes.

"Maybe it's a good thing that everyone didn't come," Stiles said, "or else, I wouldn't be able to do this." He gently pulled her chin up to meet her cherry-glossed lips with a sweet kiss.

She responded immediately, tangling her fingers through his dark brown hair as she pressed her body close to his.

He moved to the porcelain skin of her neck, placing a taunting kiss on that one spot near her ear that he knew made her knees go weak. He felt her shiver in his arms as he continued his way down her neck, taking his sweet time to press a long kiss to her throat before covering every single open spot of pale skin on her neck and collarbone with his lips, counting each and every faint freckle he spotted before placing a feathery kiss each one. She leaned forward to whisper in his ear as he continued to place light kisses all over her, "Stiles," she whispered, her breath hitching as he discovered a new spot that made her shiver, "I'll never float away from you."

She felt him chuckle into her neck. She took his short moment of distraction to roll her eyes.

"Are we done with the balloon metaphors?" He questioned before pulling back from her, a goofy smile lighting up his face. His cheeks were flushed, his whiskey irises a shade darker than their usual brown hue. And in that moment, Lydia's stomach didn't just flip - it performed an entire freaking gymnastics routine with a million different complex types of backward-flips and one-handed cartwheels.

She smirked playfully before reaching forward to take one of the remaining balloons from the bucket. He watched her rosy lips pucker and purse as they worked to inflate the pink balloon, until she finally released the blown-up latex from her mouth to tie a knot at the end.

She held the balloon up, and he watched her with a slightly bemused, yet interested expression.

"This, is my heart," she pointed a manicured fingernail at the round pink pocket of air, "my heart is fragile."

He watched her quietly, his gaze holding the warmth of hot chocolate on an icy winter day and the love that had always been only reserved for _her_, and her only.

She bit her bottom lip shyly, before staring straight into those eyes, and suddenly, she was floating on helium, too, just like those pretty balloons that hovered above them.

She placed the balloon into his hands, and he held it like it was the most precious item in the world to ever make contact with his skin.

"I'm giving my heart to you."

"So, please, don't pop it."


End file.
